Annapolis Sailboat Show Oct 12, 2015

You’d think we’d done the moving dance enough times to know the process is lengthy, agonizing and always involves acquisitions as well as disposals. But boy this getting prepped process has moved along at a sailing snail’s pace! So much needed to be researched, double-checked and ordered (mostly) or bought locally; it consumed nearly half our time. And since my role as support staff, chief cook and bottle washer was limited; no electrician am I; the gargantuan portion fell to Captain Russ. Nary a complaint though. 🙂

The motorhome and related accessories, like the RVi Brake, zero-gravity lounge chairs :-(, grill, road atlas all sold. Annie’s new owners have a bucket list that includes all the National Parks, so she will travel farther and wider than with us!

We needed to replace my vintage iPhone 3 and I was happy to get Russ’s hand-me-down 5 while he acquired a 6S at the Apple store.  Too hard to come by at AT&T stores. The young man at the store got his first look at a vintage 3; we all had a good chuckle. Look at the  changes since my iPhone3 in 2010.

Stack ’em up. The 6S is so thin, it’s hard to hold.

We attended the Annapolis Sailboat show, not because we are sailors at heart but because the sailboat show is the weekend before the Powerboat show and we needed to shop sooner than later. We even made a brief appearance at the Power Boat Show’s VIP day to look at and purchase our new dinghy because the only “floor” model of the one we wanted was at the show.

Faith clued us in to the famous “chicken roost” delly, but while the name sounds like that it’s actually Chick and Ruth’s. Isn’t that cute?

Chick and Ruth’s in the heart of downtown

All the flybridge compartments needed a thorough cleaning before Russ could organize them and then remove the icemaker which was being replaced by an Engel fridge.  Yes, we are making up for that faux Engel mistake.

He just kept pulling out stuff from everywhere!

The hallway in front of the dinette that runs across the salon is a narrow 19” wide but long at 96” and nary an off-the-shelf rug was that narrow. But all is available at this huge boat show and we came across “Welcome Aboard” who would make us the exact size rug we needed using quality materials and a non-skid backing :-). Well done and on time, sent all the way from California. Love it.

Oh so dreamy (fancy, schmantzy some might say)- my new custom carpet from Welcome Aboard

However, the rug ended up costing us far more than its $200 price tag. Funny how casual words can beget a major experience. We had bought a new anchor at the show; a Rocna like on Ms Ortolan only smaller. Somehow this fact came up as we finalized our rug order about one hour before the show ended. Oh yes, the Rocna is very good, but oh the Ultra is far superior…. and we got the full low-down. Off we went then in search of the vendor’s booth; we looked we talked we pondered we made an offer we accepted theirs we closed down the show, driving off with a 46lb shiny stainless steel Ultra anchor, state-of-the-art self-righting anchor swivel and a yacht-y Sovereign Australian grill with stand! The jury is still out on the quality of our decision so we’ll keep you posted… if we ever leave the slip and get to use either one!

Ultra shine!

Our minimalist social life included happy hour aboard m/v Traveling Soul where sweet Spot (a Bengal) reins as queen 🙂 She’s got Ann and Mike well-trained (they think it’s the other way) and they dote on her; easy to see why. Traveling Soul is a gorgeous 52′ Jefferson, so the living room looks a lot like a “regular” one.

She likes it!

Isn’t she darling?

Spot surprised us all and went for Ann’s delicious artichoke dip

Faith and Dan came down to see our new ‘cat’illac. We last saw them in Annapolis on our first trip south aboard Ortolan. (here’s a link to that post) Time, however short with both couples, was quality and we especially enjoy being with like-minded folk.
Nearly every single undertaking took longer than it should have; some tormented us for weeks but eventually persistence and brains won out over clever trouble gremlins!

One required venture out was a very quick trip to CT to register Twins, the dinghy, and donate way too much to the State’s coffers. But we also had to bring stuff (a very stuffed full MINI) to storage and pick up our mail. Fortunately time was available for a stop at our favorite local donut shop, Beach Donuts. 🙂

Beach Donuts- the chocolate glazed crullers freeze well

Finally, m/v Twin Sisters became a proper motor yacht (did you know that across the pond, the term isn’t boat, it’s yacht?).

Russ applies our name and hailing port

Weeks earlier, I got to remove the prior name and port, being a (former) hairdryer pro and all.

We love our new dinghy; has an outboard one step up from what we had before. Plus the smaller gas tank sits in the bow locker out-of-the-way. More about her in a future post.

Is the dinghy extra wide or the ramp narrow ?

Space is tight between boats so we have to get creative.

So here we are, the day prior to departure. Too pooped party but we raise our glass to all those who are living their dream and pursuing their passions.  We are (even me) eager to cast off and begin our ICW adventures and more.

You may recall how much I loved the part of ICW cruising called “Dances with Bridges.” Twins (seems like a good nickname) has an air draft of 26ft; 18ft with the antenna down and even less if we could lower the mast but we can’t, well not easily anyway. We’ll be able to scoot under many opening bridges; a few will require we lower the antenna but that is easy to do.

No, not the same catamaran; a new one, well new to us anyway.  Dare I say that one of us felt the tidal pull urging him (oh gave that away) to return to cruising? I suppose this was inevitable as we loved the community and friendliness of cruising; not to be found (maybe under a rock) with RVing at all.  While sailing was a challenge, more exhilarating and exasperating at the same time, I could check that off my list and had little problem agreeing to return to the water in a power cat.

We found “the one” faster than expected and so the last month or more has been a whirlwind of activity and traveling.

The boat is a PDQ34, hull #100. Built in 2006. She’s in great shape and while she needs some additional equipment to meet our needs, she’s almost good to go as is. And boy can she go! Two 100hp Yanmars move her along swiftly, especially in calm waters. Ideal top cruising speed is around 14kts, while her ideal “slow” cruising speed is around 7kts. With only 17ft of beam compared to Ortolan’s 23 she won’t be as stable but she is wide for her 34ft length and will fit easily into many slips unlike Ms Ortolan.

Twin Sisters, fka Endeavour, fka Volare, recently completed the Great Loop with her last owner who purchased her solely for that purpose, checked that off his bucket list and is moving on to the next item.

Russ arrives at Herrington Harbor North on Twin Sisters as I wait on Traveling Soul with Mike and Ann

Russ got to make the relatively short trip from Edgewater, MD to the marina while I drove Bonny and got to hang out with our friends on Traveling Soul who spent the summer at this lovely, friendly and safe marina.

Our new home dock for the next 5-6 weeks

Note the very high waterline when we arrived on Sept 17

The marina very graciously let us keep the RV parked in their huge lot for a few weeks

Every day seemed to bring another thing to fix. The fridge had turned off once or twice so Russ pulled it out and cleaned off some connections and since then, knock on wood- which we do have! it’s been working fine. A bit too small, but we are going to add a small fridge up on the flybridge (replace the current icemaker – boohoo), and, are you ready??? Buy an Engel – not a faux one- the real deal –  to have more freezer space.

How convenient the fridge can just slide out on to the counters in my tiny galley.

We slowly moved aboard, making space and storing things in strange places as we went. The rain and wind-filled front that preceded Joaquin kept us inside for several days with claustrophobia a given what with all that stuff piled up. Of course we had to order stuff, mostly from Defender but Amazon was there too. Boy aren’t they slow now? Russ tried to do Prime, but long story short, it wasn’t going to work due to the marina having a physical shipping address AND a PO box.

Overload!!!

We got so silly – thought we’d have a sleepover in the galley!

Now this look very interesting. I think the spare bed is oozing out into the galley.

But really, we were just blowing up the new air mattress to be sure it was OK. The original mattress and many, many other things the prior owner left behind, got put in the “Freecycle” box at the marina for someone else to use.

A test inflation of the new air mattress (for esteemed visitors )!

During all this moving aboard activity we had several inquiries about the RV and two showings. One was VERY interested and as I write this Russ is now into hour # three of showing them Ms Annie.  If this doesn’t pan out we have Plan B- so no worries.

Attending the boat show this weekend but since we already have the boat, we can concentrate on the vendors and the food and a Painkiller or two!